Book end with saving-box

ABSTRACT

A book end with a saving-box includes two upright hollow bodies, which are positioned with two planar inner sides thereof facing toward each other to define a space between them for holding at least one book therein. Each of the two upright hollow bodies defines a coin collecting space, and is provided at a predetermined position with a coin slot communicating with the coin collecting space. Each of the two upright hollow bodies has a size-expanded lower portion and has a bottom board connected to a lower end thereof, and can therefore stand stably without the risk of tilting over.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a book end, and more particularly to abook end with a saving-box adapted to collect coins and hold books.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the rapid development of information industry, people could obtainthe knowledge of every branch from many other new approaches other thanpublished books. However, the functions and values of the publishedbooks are hard to replace. This is because books containing varioustexts and pictures are not only tools for people to accumulate theknowledge of different fields, but also important mental food forpeople's spiritual life. Books play a very important role in helpingchildren to develop good personality.

However, when viewing from the angle of real life, books are heavy andoccupy a lot of space to store them. It has become a new issue as how toideally utilize the very limited space to manage the educationallymeaningful books.

Most of the currently available devices for storing or holding books arein the form of book cabinets, book shelves, and bookends. Since thebookends are more flexible in use and occupy relatively small space,they are most widely accepted among the consumers.

The conventional bookends have poor stability and tend to tilt over, andare therefore not suitable for areas frequently threatened byearthquakes.

FIG. 1 shows a pair of conventional bookends 1, which includes twoL-shaped bookends 1 a, 1 b, each of which has an upright part 11 a, 11 band a horizontal bottom part 12 a, 12 b. The bookends 1 a, 1 b haveunstable center of gravity and tend to tilt over when they are in use.

Moreover, the conventional bookends 1 a, 1 b have monotonous appearanceand fail to match with esthetic interior of a room. The monotonousbookends 1 a, 1 b also fail to attract children who are more interestedin various shaped toys and novel articles, and almost have not thepossibility of drawing children's attention to the books held betweenthe bookends.

It is also known that most children envy other people's progress inlearning and good living conditions, while they do not have correctconcept about learning and saving. In other words, children seldom ornever know that knowledge and wealth are accumulated little by little.

It is therefore desirable to develop bookends that are not onlystructurally stable and safe for use, but also have beautiful andattractive designs to provide multiple functions, such as serving assaving-box and interior ornament with educational meaning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a unique bookholding device that is different from the conventional bookends and hasgood stability for use safely.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a saving-box alsofunctioning like bookends, which helps to remind people in daily lifethat knowledge and wealth are accumulated little by little.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a book end thatpresents three-dimensional and lovely animal designs to also serve as anornament.

To achieve the above and other objects, the book end according to thepresent invention includes two upright hollow bodies, each of which hasa planar inner side and a shaped outer side to define a coin collectingspace between the inner and the outer side. The upright hollow body hasa size-expanded lower portion and has a bottom board connected to andhorizontally extended from a lower end thereof, allowing the uprighthollow body to stand stably without the risk of easily tilting over.

The upright hollow body is also provided with a coin slot communicatingwith the coin collecting space, and a key-controlled openable cover forremoving saved coins from the coin collecting space.

When the two upright hollow bodies having the horizontal bottom boardsare positioned with the planar inner sides facing toward each other, abook-holding space is formed between the two upright hollow bodies forholding books.

The book end of the present invention has unique structure andattractive appearance, allowing it to also function like stable bookendsfor orderly holding books on a horizontal surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art byreading the following description of a best mode of the operation of themethod, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of conventional bookends;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a book end with a saving-box accordingto a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a planar inner side of an uprighthollow body of the saving-box of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the book end of the presentinvention is used to hold a plurality of books between two uprighthollow bodies of the book end.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIG. 2 that is a perspective view of a book end 2according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown,the book end 2 includes two upright hollow bodies 2 a, 2 b and two lyingbottom boards 2 c, 2 d.

The upright hollow body 2 a includes a planar inner side 21 and a shapedouter side 22 to define a coin collecting space 23 between the inner andthe outer side 21, 22. A coin slot 24 is provided on the shaped outerside 22 at a predetermined position corresponding to and communicatingwith the coin collecting space 23. Similarly, the upright hollow body 2b includes a planar inner side 21′ and a shaped outer side 22′ to definea coin collecting space 23′ between the inner and the outer side 21′,22′. A coin slot 24′ is provided on the shaped outer side 22′ at apredetermined position corresponding to and communicating with the coincollecting space 23′, as can be clearly seen from FIG. 4, which is asectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

The two shaped outer sides 22, 22′ may present, for example, athree-dimensional animal design.

A coin inserted into the coin slot 24 or 24′ would fall into the coincollecting space 23 or 23′ and be saved therein.

It is noted the upright hollow bodies 2 a, 2 b all have a size-expandedlower portion, and can therefore more stably stand on a horizontalsurface without the risk of tilting over due to a high center ofgravity.

Please refer to FIG. 3 that is an elevational view of the planar innerside 21 of the upright hollow body 2 a. As shown, an openable cover 25is formed on the planar inner side 21 at the lower portion of theupright hollow body 2 a, and a key-controlled lock 26 is provided on thecover 25 at a predetermined position. The cover 25 may be pivotallyconnected at an edge to the planar inner side 21, or slidably mounted tothe planar inner side 21.

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the cover 25 is pivotallyconnected to the planar inner side 21. The lock 26 may be a cylinderlock embedded in the cover 25, or a padlock externally hung on the cover25. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the lock 26 is a padlock. Auser may use a correct key to open the lock 26 and the cover 25 tocollect or remove the coins from the saving-box. Since the planar innerside 21′ has the same structure as the planar inner side 21, it is notrepeatedly described.

The lying bottom boards 2 c, 2 d may be pivotally connected at an end toa lower end of the upright hollow bodies 2 a, 2 b, respectively, so thatthe two lying bottom boards 2 c, 2 d may be folded to or extended fromthe upright hollow bodies 2 a, 2 b depending on actual need. The lyingbottom boards 2 c, 2 d may be further provided with at least one sloteach for a partition board to insert thereinto.

Please refer to FIG. 5 that shows the book end 2 of the presentinvention is used as bookends to hold a plurality of books between thetwo upright hollow bodies 2 a, 2 b. When the book end 2 is used to holdbooks, the two upright hollow bodies 2 a, 2 b are positioned with thetwo planar inner sides 21, 21′ facing toward one another, and the twolying bottom boards 2 c, 2 d fully extended from the two upright hollowbodies 2 a, 2 b, respectively, to direct toward each other, so that abook-holding space is formed between the two upright hollow bodies 2 a,2 b for holding a plurality of books 3.

With the size-expanded lower portions of the two upright hollow bodies 2a, 2 b, the bookends provided by the book end 2 of the present inventionare more stable than the conventional bookends 1 shown in FIG. 1.

While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to the most practical and preferred embodiments, itis to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangement included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

1. A book end, comprising: two upright hollow bodies, each of whichhaving a planar inner side and a shaped outer side; a coin collectingspace defined between said planar inner side and said shaped outer sideof each of said two upright hollow bodies; a coin slot provided on saidshaped outer side of each of said two upright hollow bodies at apredetermined position communicating with said coin collecting space;and a lying bottom board connected at an end to a lower end of each ofsaid two upright hollow bodies to extend perpendicular to and beyondsaid planar inner side; whereby when said two upright hollow bodies arepositioned with said two planar inner sides facing toward one another,and said two lying bottom boards directing toward each other, abook-holding space is formed between said two upright hollow bodies forholding at least one book.
 2. The book end as claimed in claim 1,wherein said shaped outer side of each of said two upright hollow bodiespresents a three-dimensional animal design.
 3. The book end as claimedin claim 1, wherein said planar inner side of each of said two uprighthollow bodies is provided at a predetermined position with an openablecover.
 4. The book end as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lying bottomboard is pivotally connected to the lower end of said planar inner sideof said upright hollow body.